Erich Schifler
Biography Early Life Erich Schifler was born in January of 1918 in Heidelberg, Germany, the younger of two sons. After the close of the Great War, Erich and his older brother, Heinrich, lead somewhat normal lives growing up and the two often played and worked together. Erich was a highly intelligent, yet aggressive young man and he looked up to Heinrich considerably, as the two were often never apart. As they grew up, Erich and Heinrich enjoyed fishing, climbing trees and even some hunting. When getting into their teens, they started working a number of different jobs to help pay for food and housing for their parents, both working very hard in their jobs and tasks. Sometimes, the two would secretly make their way into a bar to get a drink and meet up with some friends. Just like Heinrich, Erich was a very patriotic German and was very loyal to his country. However, despite his German nationalism, he also strongly disliked the Nazis and their policies, something that was shared by his brother. Despite this, they joined the German Wehrmacht in early 1935, becoming strong and capable infantry soldiers. Once joining the army, Erich and Heinrich moved into their own house on the outskirts of Heidelberg, living there until 1941. In late 1936, Erich and Heinrich were sent as a guard to a German delegation to East Asia, visiting China and Japan. Here, Erich met a young woman named Chiemi Nishikara, and he began a relationship with her. While in China, he had met the young Mei Lin and they became friends. The two men continued their lives in Germany until 1940, when they were called to action. Eventually, the two men were placed in the newly created 21st Panzer Division and sent to fight in North Africa. World War II Fighting in North Africa Erich started fighting in the deserts of North Africa, in which he is fighting in multiple vicious battles in the deserts to crush British forces. He fights mostly in Libya and Tunisia, defending German gains from British offensives while serving his his commander, Hinrichs and his friend, Vischer in the 21st Panzer Division, which his brother, Heinrich, was also serving in as well. While loyally serving Germany, Hinrichs and Erich devised plans for their troops to conduct their own mission in the war, to eventually break away from the German high command and have themselves serve as a liberating force to free North Africa from British control, gaining the loyalty of much of their division into their goal. He fights very hard to defend German positions and lines in Libya against British assaults during Operation Crusader, and while he and his men were successful in defending some points, the British operation was successful in holding off the German invasion of Egypt. Being somewhat cut off from the rest of the German forces and low on supplies, Erich and his reinforced brigade raided an enemy base and got their hands on a very large number of British Thompson guns, Lee-Enfield rifles and Lewis guns, as well as German FG 42 guns, Mauser C96 Carbines and MG 42 guns. Erich and his large brigade used these weapons for the duration of their war in North Africa. In the midst of their guerilla war, Erich and Vischer fight past British positions and defenses to help assault a couple British convoys, then they keep fighting to battle and eliminate a few enemy supply camps, reuniting with Hinrichs. After this, they help German forces in battling and seizing two villages in the deserts, then they keep fighting fiercely to defend the two villages from British assaults in a vicious battle, defending the lines around the two villages and fighting off British infantry assaults. With this done, Erich participates in a counter assault, helping German forces in battling British lines and defensive positions, crushing them and then they move to seize and defend a village before making their way to assault and destroy a couple enemy camps. They then make their way to a town, fighting past and crushing the British defenses there and then seizing the town. As they keep fighting in the Libyan deserts, Erich, Hinrichs and Vischer help German soldiers in defending a series of defensive lines in the deserts, fighting fiercely to fend off British assaults in vicious battles. After much fierce fighting, they defend the desert trench lines, then Erich and the Germans move to crush British forces in the deserts. In a series of fierce battles, they engage in vicious fighting past British defenses to fight and crush six pivotal British positions in the desert, then after they eliminate these positions, they fight their way to a ridge, holding the ridge and defending a pivotal trench line from British assaults, fending them off in a ferocious battle. As the Germans start making their move back to Tunisia, Erich and his troops are ordered to cover the retreat. First, Erich, Hinrichs and Vischer help in fighting past British trench lines, machine gun nests and defensive positions, then assaulting a convoy and a supply camp. After this, they move to seize a town, fighting through the streets and buildings to clear British infantry out of the buildings and eliminate positions. After fierce fighting, they move in to take the two center, holding it from a British counterattack. After this, they fight their way into the Tunisian deserts, and after crushing British positions, they assault the city of Ghirsine. Erich and the Germans engage in fierce fighting to clear the British out of Ghirsine, then they finally hold the city from British assaults, achieving victory, though Vischer is killed in the battle. Battles for the Middle East Erich kept fighting in vicious battles in the Tunisian deserts, eliminating British defenses and positions while defending German lines. As Erich and Hinrichs keep fighting fiercely in Tunisia, they come across SS Colonel, Karl von Hershing. Despite Erich's dislike of the Nazis, he came to greatly trust Hershing, believing him to be a different man who wished to change Nazi ideology for the better (though being unaware of Hershing's true nature). Hershing had helped Erich and Hinrichs defend a number of German positions in Tunisia, and once Hershing lied to Erich about Heinrich being killed by British forces, Erich began becoming closer to the man. When the Afrika Korps surrendered in May 1943, Erich and Hinrichs escape Allied capture and then they joined Hershing's Asien Korps as highly skilled infantry soldiers. For the rest of 1943, under Hershing's leadership, Erich and Hinrichs helped the Asien Korps in fighting in the deserts of the Middle East, fighting mostly in Syria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, and even parts in the Sinai Peninsula. Erich and Hinrichs helped German Asien Korps soldiers in raiding and assaulting British defenses and positions, and engaging in fierce skirmishes with British forces in the deserts. They also helped fight and eliminate British camps and convoys, as well as seizing villages and defending German lines. Erich kept fighting in the Middle East, eliminating British positions and lines and then, at the end of 1943, they manage to finish up their work in the Middle East. Fighting in China and India For the remaining years of the war, Erich engaged in vicious fighting in China and India, fighting fiercely to crush enemy Chinese and British forces in the two countries and helping the Asien Korps Germans in battle. Erich and Hinrichs keep fighting in a series of multiple vicious battles in the jungles and terrain of China and India, helping the German forces fighting and crushing British and Chinese forces, as well as gaining the help of Japanese troops. While in China, and under Hershing's leadership, Erich fights mostly Communist Chinese forces, and much Nationalist Chinese as well, fiercely crushing them in battle in all engagements. Erich commits fierce ambushes and raids against Chinese infantry and positions and fights in fierce battles to eliminate Chinese positions, defenses and lines, while fighting hard to defend German and Japanese lines from Chinese assaults. Erich and Hinrichs fiercely assault Chinese supply camps and convoys, then keep fighting hard past Chinese infantry and defenses to help seize numerous villages, then defending the villages from Chinese assaults. Like the rest of the Asien Korps Germans, Erich and Hinrichs maintain very friendly relations with Chinese civilians and villagers, giving them food and helping them with chores. As they keep fighting in multiple fierce battles and skirmishes in China, Erich and Hinrichs help German soldiers seize and hold key positions in Southern China to assist the Japanese operation Ichi-Go. First, they fight fiercely to seize seven key points in the Guilin jungles, fighting very hard to seize and defend them in fierce battles, then they keep fighting fiercely to defend numerous German lines, fighting in a vicious battle by fending off the Chinese waves and assaults and defending their lines. With this, they obtain their victory and hold onto their gains. Erich and Hinrichs keep fighting in multiple fierce battles and skirmishes in China, fighting very hard and eliminating Chinese infantry, positions, defenses, lines and nests in vicious fighting. After this, Hershing leads Erich and Hinrichs in assaulting British and Indian forces in India. Erich fights and eliminates British positions and lines, then keeps fighting to seize and defend a number of villages. After this, he assaults British convoys and supply camps, eliminating them. Erich and Hinrichs keep fighting and eliminating British defenses, infantry and nests, then keep fighting in the jungles of India to destroy British tanks and machine guns. With this, they engage in fierce ambushes and skirmishes to eliminate British and Indian infantry and defenses and they seize and hold a village in the jungles, fighting fiercely to defend it. After this, they return to China. Erich and Hinrichs keep fighting in a series of multiple vicious battles and skirmishes in China, fiercely crushing Chinese forces. Erich fights and seizes several villages, then fights hard to defend them, then Erich assaults Chinese camps and supply holds, eliminating them. Erich and Hinrichs keep fighting fiercely past Chinese lines, infantry and positions in the jungles of China, then they engage in fierce ambushes and skirmishes to destroy Chinese convoys and tanks. Erich keeps fighting and crushing Chinese infantry and defenses, then makes raids on Chinese camps. After eliminating machine gun nests, Erich fights and seizes a couple of villages, then Erich and Hinrichs keep fighting very hard to defend the lines around the villages, fighting fiercely to defend the villages by fending off Chinese assaults in a vicious battle. After much fierce fighting, they achieve victory. Defection Sometime later, Erich went to Japan and reunited Chiemi, the two embracing each other. Erich and Chiemi married and spent much time together, before Erich was called back to China. However, wanting to be with him, Chiemi had sneaked aboard the boat carrying Erich and went with him, and she resided in a colonial Japanese village. Erich and Hinrichs kept fighting fiercely in China, defending a German line and a village and crushing a Chinese assault in a vicious battle in late April of 1945. However, while they achieved victory, Hinrichs died in the fighting while saving Erich. Erich started to become disillusioned in the war, but even more so, he started seeing more of the disturbing and brutal behavior of Hershing, who even forced Erich to witness Japanese troops brutally massacre hundreds of Chinese civilians, then he made him watch his German soldiers execute captured Russian and Chinese prisoners. Seeing Hershing's truly evil nature, Erich made plans to abandon him. Coming across Chinese soldiers of 'Chen's Wolves', Erich told them his plans to defect. However, the Soviet Union invaded Japanese Manchuria, with the Red Army crushing all Japanese resistance in the way. Erich took Chiemi to the city of Hailar to meet up with the leader of the 'Wolves', Chen Li-Jin. Russian and Chinese forces assaulted Hailar, and that's when Erich met Viktor Reznov of the Red Army. Erich promised to help Reznov find Hershing if they could get Chiemi to safety, and as she was, Erich helped Reznov in fighting off Japanese counter assaults and defending Hailar. With his defection to the Red Army official, Erich continued helping Reznov and the Russians, first assisting them in the search for Japanese Colonel Hiroshi Shirasaki. With the help of Mikhail Vylkalev, Mei Lin and the Red Army, Erich and Reznov engage in fierce fighting past German and Japanese defenses, striking villas until they find Shirasaki. After finding and executing the man, Reznov and Erich keep fighting past German and Japanese forces to escape the area. Knowing the location of Hershing's castle, Erich helps Reznov storm the castle and discover Hershing's gold collections and V2 missiles. After Reznov is captured, Erich and Vylkalev rescue him, but Hershing takes Vylkalev prisoner, along with taking the uranium. Erich and Reznov pursue Hershing and come across the truck about to make off with the uranium. Luckily, Erich and Reznov manage to stop the truck from leaving and secure the uranium. While Reznov leaves to find Vylkalev, Erich helps get the uranium out of the castle and into Soviet hands. Later Life After the war, Erich returned to Japan and reunited with his wife, Chiemi. With this, Erich and Chiemi settled together in a remote village in the Japanese countryside, and they lived there together for many years, remaining happily married. They even had a son together, and Erich started embracing some Japanese customs, including wearing Japanese robes at times, while still retaining his German customs as well. Regardless, Erich and Chiemi lived very happily and intimately together. They also lived alongside Viktor Reznov and Mei Lin for some time. Erich served as Reznov's companion while they were in Japan, and they would talk and drink together often. Erich and Reznov remained close friends until Reznov and Mei Lin moved to and settled down in Hawaii, leaving Erich to happily live out the rest of his days with Chiemi in the Japanese village. Traits and Relationships Trivia Category:Call of Duty Characters